Your Right to Know

WASHINGTON — Former President George W. Bush, who normally stays out of current political
issues, waded briefly into the immigration debate in an interview broadcast yesterday, urging
Congress to pass legislation to overhaul the system.

“It’s very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect and have confidence in
our capacity to assimilate people,” Bush said on
This Week on ABC News. “It’s a very difficult bill to pass. The legislative process can be
ugly. But it looks like they’re making some progress.”

Bush was a champion of immigration changes during his presidency, and his failure to pass such
legislation was one of his biggest disappointments. President Barack Obama has picked up the baton
in pressing for a similar plan to create a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the
country illegally, aided by newfound support among Republicans worried about the electoral
implications of alienating a growing Latino vote.

Bush said politics should not be the primary motivation for reshaping immigration laws. “The
reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster a Republican Party,” he said. “It’s to fix a
system that’s broken.”

Asked about Obama’s decision to continue some of the counterterrorism programs he inherited,
Bush said, “I think the president got into the Oval Office and realized the dangers to the United
States, and he’s acted in ways he thinks are necessary to protect the country.”